Light Up the Sky
By angellwings
It's that moment when you start closin' in.
First you're holding back, then surrenderin'.
It can start a fire, light up the sky, such a simple thing.
Do you wanna try?
-"Kiss a Girl", Keith Urban
Nate needed this. He needed a night that was carefree and comfortable, and completely his own. Time for himself had been scarce lately, and he was glad he had this moment.
Ella brought her legs up and draped them across his lap. He smiled at her as she let her head fall back on the porch swing they were currently sharing. His arm rested on the back of the swing and he felt the top of her head graze his arm.
Okay, so maybe "time for himself" was really "time with Ella." He couldn't help that she was the one who helped him to feel as carefree and comfortable as he wanted. They'd officially been on a date or two and Nate just felt that he could be so completely free with her which is why he agreed to stay up with her and watch the lunar eclipse. So far they hadn't done much other than sit in a companionable silence.
She nudged his side with her elbow. "You can see Orion."
"Yeah, I guess you can," Nate smiled.
"Orion is my favorite constellation," She told him with a soft smile.
His brow furrowed. "You have a favorite constellation?"
"Yes, doesn't everybody?"
He smiled warmly at her and removed his arm from the back of the swing to take her hand. He tangled his fingers with hers and shook his head. "No, but everybody should."
She sighed happily and glanced at their hands. "When I was little my dad used to tell me that Orion would protect me whenever he was away on tour. He said all I had to do was look to Orion and know that someone out there was protecting me. It stuck with me, and now every time there's a clear night I look for Orion and send him a thank you. It's odd, I guess, but whenever I can see that constellation I feel safe."
That was why he found himself falling love with Ella. There were so many little things that made her beautiful and unique. She offered up all of herself and never really asked for anything in return. She was full of so many different views and insights that she seemed like a lovely contradiction. Innocent and yet so very mature.
"That's not odd, El," Nate told her. "I think that's…beautiful."
"Really? You don't think it sounds lame and childish?" She asked worriedly.
"Not at all," He answered as patted her knee with his free hand.
She smiled slowly at him. "Thank you."
He tilted his head to the side. "For what?"
"For just being you, and…understanding me."
He kept his hand on her knee and skimmed his thumb across it absently as he looked at her. "That understanding thing goes both ways, hon."
"It—It does?"
"Ella, I locked myself in a studio for two weeks in between our first unofficial date and our first official date. I slept there, showered there, and everything. And what did you do?" Nate asked her with a smile.
"I brought you food and Diet Coke. And other random items."
"Exactly," He said with a laugh. "Most girls would not do that."
She pursed her lips thoughtfully. "Why not?"
He shrugged. "I don't know, but according to Shane most people think that's weird."
"Well, I think it's cute so shame on 'most people.' Hmph," Ella said with a scoff.
"The point is that I like to think that you and I see each other more clearly than most people would," Nate told her with an amused chuckle. "Would you say that's true?"
She nodded brought her free hand over to hold his hand that was currently stroking her knee, and she laced those fingers with his too. "I would say that's true."
They sat like that in comfortable silence again. As they both looked back to the night sky they were pretty much completely tangled in each other. Their hands and arms were interwoven with Ella's legs resting underneath their hands, and yet it felt completely typical in the most wonderful way.
Ella looked away from the stars to study Nate's face. He was beautiful. And the most amazing part of it all? He was here with her. This talented, caring, and beautiful man was sitting on this swing holding her. She sighed happily for the second time that night and squeezed his hand. He turned her way and gave her a questioning glance.
"This is nice," she told him.
He leaned forward and placed a kiss on her forehead. "This is more than just nice, El. This is…breathtaking."
She blinked at him and then flashed him a closed mouth smile. "How so?"
"Think about it. Of all the people we could be here, in this moment, with…we're here with each other. Think about all the random events that had to happen to get us here. The sheer fact that life put us in this moment tonight is breathtaking."
"You're gonna use that in a song, aren't you?" Ella asked him with a chuckle.
He smirked at her. "Probably."
She threw her head back and laughed at him. The moonlight streaked across her hair and he wanted desperately to reach out and touch it, and he would have if his hands weren't currently being held by Ella's smaller ones.
"What time does the eclipse start?" He asked.
"One-thirty. What time is it?" She asked as she released one of his hands and grabbed his wrist that wore his watch. "One-fifteen. We still have a few minutes."
Nate suddenly pushed off the ground and the swing began to move. Ella jumped in surprise and the swing tilted backwards. He laughed and stroked the back of her hand with his thumb. "Sorry. Didn't mean to startle you."
"That's okay," She said as she smiled peacefully at him and rested her head on the back of the swing. He abruptly stopped any and all motion.
"Hey, now, I didn't stay up just so you could fall asleep this close to this thing starting," he told her with a grin as he leaned toward where her head rested.
Her eyes fluttered closed. "It's your fault. You're the one who decided to start rocking me to sleep."
He chuckled. "That is not what I was doing."
"Mhmm," She mumbled sleepily.
"Ella, do not fall asleep. If you start to fall asleep I will have no choice but to wake you up," Nate threatened.
"That's nice," She slurred as her breathing slowed down.
"Don't make me do this," Nate said with a shake of his head. Ella didn't respond and Nate brought his fingers to her sides. Ella's eyes flew open and she squealed.
"Nate! Stop!"
She laughed loudly as he continued to tickle her.
"No fair! You're a boy! You're stronger than me!"
She squirmed and twisted in an attempt to get away from his hands but that just made him lean over her even more. She was practically stretched across his lap and the entire swing now. Her hands shoved at his shoulders in an attempt to push him away which caused the swing to move back and forth at odd angles. She finally gave up and curled her arms into her chest in an attempt to protect her sides from his assault.
Nate simply picked another target. He lightly tickled the backs of her knees which he knew was her most ticklish spot. She cried out and her legs flailed.
"You're so evil!" She yelled through her laughter. "You said you would never use my weak spot if I told you where it was! You lied!"
"I didn't lie. I just crossed my fingers," He said with a laugh as he caught one of her wildly kicking legs.
He reached for the socks that protected her feet and Ella pointed accusingly at him.
"Nate…"
He peeled the sock off of her foot as she tried to wiggle it out of his grasp.
"I'm awake, Nate! I'm awake! I promise I won't fall asleep!"
"Hm, I don't know if I believe you," He said as he threw the sock on the ground.
"Na-ate!" Ella whined (though she couldn't hide her smile).
"You're prepared to stay awake now?" He asked as he quirked an eyebrow at her.
"I said I was, didn't I?" She asked. "Now put my foot down!"
"Put your foot down, what?"
"Please. Put my foot down, please!"
"Much better," Nate said as he released his hold on her foot.
"Can I have my sock back?" She asked.
"No," He told her as he sat up a little and studied her foot. He reached for the other one and took the sock off of that one too. "Your feet are cute. I think you'll be fine without them."
"But I haven't had a pedicure in ages. They look gross," Ella whined.
"They do not. They're perfect."
She curled up her toes and tried to pull her feet off of the swing, but Nate placed a firm hand on her legs and kept them there.
"Sometimes, you're really weird," Ella told him honestly. "They're just feet."
"They're cute little dainty feet," He laughed. "How do girls have such cute feet?"
"We're girls, Nate. We're made of sugar, spice, and everything nice, remember?"
"Some of you are," He agreed. He gave Ella a sly smirk as he continued, "But then some of you aren't."
"Nate Grey! Are you saying I'm not made of those things?"
"Now, why would I go and say a thing like that?" He asked.
"You know, if you don't stop being a smart ass I'm going to attack you in a minute," Ella threatened.
Nate laughed. "You cursed. You never curse."
She laughed as well and kicked him playfully. "I felt like it, okay? Stop picking on me."
"But you just make it so easy."
"Oh, shut up."
"On one condition," He said as he leaned toward her and kept an arm laid across her legs.
"What's that?" She asked curiously as his face grew closer to hers.
"You have to kiss me," He said as he wiggled his eyebrows up and down. Ella gulped nervously. They'd gone on a total of two dates, maybe three if you counted their friend outing that turned into something a little more. But they hadn't gone any further than short pecks on the lips. Mostly because both of them wanted to take things slow.
They'd gone too fast with others in the past and Nate and Ella were determined not to do that this time. Ella licked her lips and bit into her bottom one gently. Nate smiled softly at her and whispered, "It doesn't have to be anything intense, Ella. Just a kiss, that's all."
Nate looked so concerned and so desperate for her to be comfortable. Nate wasn't like the other guys she'd dated in the past. He was different.
In so many ways.
They'd moved so far from their original position. Ella was now practically laying across Nate's lap. He leaned over her and a curl fell across his eyes. She smiled softly and reached up to push it out of the way. She knew it would simply fall again, but it was an excuse for her to touch his curls. She sat up and was surprised to find she was sitting directly in Nate's lap. She caressed his cheek and then placed one hand on the back of his neck while the other slid under the collar of his polo shirt. She kissed the corner of his mouth before placing a quick yet longer kiss on his lips. Just as she felt him kissing her back she pulled away and then kissed the other corner of his mouth. She smiled in amusement when she saw his lips twitch as she did so.
She pressed her forehead to his. "Nate?"
"Yes?" He asked as he brought a hand up to run it through her dark tresses.
"You know that you're different, don't you?"
His brow furrowed but the warm smile never left his face. "Different?"
"Than all the others I've dated."
"All the others?" He asked worriedly. "How many people have you dated?"
"Nate," She said with a chuckle. "Focus. I'm trying to tell you something here."
"Right," He said as he cleared his throat. "How am I different?"
"Well, you haven't run away for one thing, and for another…you haven't let me run away," She told him softly. "And I think…no, I know that this, you and me, is going to last a while. I can tell."
"I can tell too," He told her softly as he wrapped a piece of her hair around one of his fingers. "You're different as well. You've seen me when I'm not my most pleasant, and it didn't scare you off. That's big, for me."
She chuckled at him. "Oh please, you put up a grumpy front but really you're harmless."
"And you are a lot smarter than you lead people to believe, Ms. Pador," Nate told her pointedly.
"Alright, so you're a fake and I'm a phony," Ella said with a wink. "What are we going to do about it?"
"Well, we're not going to keep up those 'fronts' in front of each other that's for sure," He told her. "I know you use those not quite brilliant comments of yours as some sort of self defense, but I want to hear what you really have to say, Ella. Not what you think people expect you to say. Understood?"
She nodded and smiled at him. "And I want you to do the same. When people get too close to the truth you burry it in sarcasm and glares, and I'm telling you now, if you do that with me I will simply bug you until you break down."
He laughed and nodded as well. "Got it."
"Now that we've got that out of the way," Ella told him. "You're either going to have to kiss me or stop playing with my hair. Because doing one but not the other is like torture."
The hand that wasn't playing with her hair flattened on her back and rubbed light circles. "What about that?"
"Nate," Ella whined.
He smirked. "So, still torture, then?"
She growled in frustration and used her hand on the back of his neck to pull his lips to hers. Only their position left her neck at an odd angle, but Nate had a solution for that. He turned himself as they kissed very carefully and spread out as much as he could across the swing. He pulled Ella along with him until she was practically laying on top of him. His back rested against the swing's armrest and Ella was cuddled into his side. Her arms went around his neck and her fingers dipped into the curls at the base of his neck. His own arms tightened around her waist as she did this. He now understood what she meant.
Her small hands in his curls were driving him insane. It made him want to pull her closer, but he was pretty sure she was as close as she could get. Her tongue ran across his teeth and he smiled against her lips before deepening the kiss. She eventually pulled away to catch her breath, but that didn't stop Nate. He picked a spot just below her jaw and began trailing kisses up and down her neck.
"You get enough oxygen yet?" He asked with a smirk as he stopped kissing her long enough to look at her. Her face was flushed and her lips were swollen and pink. She'd never looked more beautiful to him than she did at that moment.
Something about the way she looked cause pride to bubble up in his chest. She looked like that because of him. She took a deep breath and then exhaled.
"Nate, I don't think I could ever get enough oxygen to keep kissing you the way you seem to be kissing me," She said with a chuckle.
"Hey, you ran your tongue across my teeth. You started it," He said with a smirk.
"You bet I did. I'm just having a hard time keeping up with your lung capacity," She said as she grinned evilly at him.
"Yes, that could be a problem," Nate said. He pretended to think for a moment. "Unless," he said as he placed another kiss on her jaw. "I just keep kissing you here," He said before moving down another inch. "Here." Yet another inch. "And here. I think that just might solve your problem."
She shivered and let out a dreamy sigh. "Nate, you're going to kill me."
He trailed back up her neck but this time left his last kiss on her temple. "Well, we wouldn't want that. Now, would we?"
"Or it might be a pretty good way to go," Ella told him with a breathless smirk.
"Shouldn't that eclipse be starting soon?" He asked her with a teasing grin.
"What eclipse was that again?" Ella asked as she feigned cluelessness.
"The one you begged me to come over and watch with you. Do you remember that?"
"It's so hard to remember anything before you started kissing me," She told him with a wink. "But I think I vaguely remember that."
"Oh no, hon, it was you who started kissing me," He said with a laugh.
"Only because you wouldn't get your hand out of my damn hair, and then—" She paused when his hand went back into the ends of her hair. "Oh God, and…then your other hand was all rubbing those…circles on…my back—"
He traced those circles on her back again and smirked. "Like that?"
"L—like that."
He brought his face close to hers and she gulped when she felt the tip of his nose nuzzle hers. He lightly brushed his lips against hers but pulled away. She let out a short low whine and Nate grinned. He kissed her forehead, the tip of her nose, and then just below her bottom lip before he finally cradled the back of her head with his hand and pulled her lips to his. He took control of the kiss and held her tightly to him. Her arms were practically crushed against his chest this time, but she didn't care so long as he kept kissing her. Her leg moved of its own accord and wrapped itself around one Nate's.
She pried one hand out from in between them and slipped it under the collar of Nate's shirt so that her hand could actually touch his skin and not the fabric of his shirt. The tips of her index and middle fingers ended up just barely touching his hair and she instinctively started running them over the texture of his curls. He groaned softly and hugged her tighter.
This kisses eventually stopped and Ella rested her head on Nate's shoulder as they both caught their breath.
"You were driving me crazy," Nate admitted as he poked her sides.
She laughed and squirmed before smiling devilishly. "Oh? Was I?"
"Yes," He practically sneered. His eyes hazed over for a second as they landed on her very pink lips. "And you knew exactly what you were doing."
He glanced down at her leg that was still wrapped around one of his. "First, there was that. Then your hand was simultaneously touching both my hair and my skin. See, I couldn't get to any of your skin though because you're wearing this stupid long sleeve shirt. How fair is that?"
She laughed at how genuinely outraged he seemed. "Aw, are you jealous that I had skin contact and you didn't?"
He brought a hand from around her waist to hold the hand that was still tucked between her chest and his. "Your skin is softer than mine." And, as if to prove it, he turned her hand over and traced its creases softly with a finger. He then reached up and tugged her long sleeve upward. He pushed it back as far above her elbow as he could. He ran a feather light touch down the length of her arm and she shivered. "Definitely softer."
She brought her hand up and rested it on his chest and as she did so his hand moved up to gently cup her elbow. He ran his thumb back and forth across the skin he found there. She tried to pull her elbow out of grasp.
"Hey, what are you doing?" He pouted.
"My elbows are dry."
"No, I'm pretty sure they're not. You imagine that there are so many things wrong with yourself, don't you? First, your feet, and now your elbows. Ella, just chill out and accept the fact that you're beautiful," Nate told her seriously as he locked gazes with her.
She blushed and tucked her head into his chest. He heard a muffled 'Thank you' come from her. He chuckled at her modesty and glanced up at the sky. He lightly pinched her side. "Hey, look up. It's starting."
She turned her head from its hiding spot on his chest and stared up at the moon as it slowly disappeared.
"How weird would it be if there was no moon?" Ella asked as she pursed her lips in thought.
Nate chuckled. "Ella, I think we light up the sky enough for two moons."
Ella giggled and placed a slow kiss on his cheek. "Yeah, I suppose we do."